I honestly don't know weather or not I should pick up Warhammer or not. I have seen so many more negative posts about Warhammer than positive posts.(maybe its just mmorpg.com trolls) I have been waiting a while to see if the game would get better but, from reading the negative posts about Warhammer that people post pretty much everyday; I honestly don't want to have my hopes high for nothing and only end up being disappointed like everyone else. So I ask the fans of Warhammer and the ones who enjoy it and the ones who might have enjoyed and just got bored quickly---should I just play something else like LOTRO (which was a second option I had in mind) or go ahead and get Warhammer?

As an elder beta tester, WAR just never got its hook in me.  At all.  Ever.  I left RL friends in EQ1 to play DAoC and couldnt stop praising it.  But its now 2008 (thats the year it is now yeah) and WAR just doesnt have what it takes.  

If I could put my thumb on it (thats what she said) I would say its a mix of uninspired PvE (which DAoC had too, imho) and RvR which can not come close to making up for the other shortcomings.   At least when my assassin climbed a keep wall in DAoC and knocked off some caster, it was fun.   I dont see any similar experiences here.

Lord Of The Rings is much better than WAR.

I thank you for your honest opinion and I ask any others willing to express theirs to do so....because Im so skeptical as to weather I should get this or just got pick up something else.

Originally posted by nick4545

I thank you for your honest opinion and I ask any others willing to express theirs to do so....because Im so skeptical as to weather I should get this or just got pick up something else.

I can honestly say that if you like PvE, EQ2 is an incredible experience.  Some servers, such as Antonia Bayle, have very high populations.  And the amount of content is unsurpassed by any current generation MMORPG.  There is so much to do, so much to see, and even more to kill that it would take the casual gamer years to see all the content it has to offer. 

As for PvP/RvR I dont know what to suggest at this point.  If I say "Darkfall" someone will scream.  Maybe even me.

OP, there's always going to be lots of negative opinions, but before believing in any of them, you have to know what you like and don't like in your games.

I'll tell you that the game didn't seem very much like DAOC, it seemed more like WOW.  If you never played/liked DAOC, that means nothing to you.   If you despised WOW, maybe that's a great reason.

It seems right now the best way to level up is to run the scenarios ad nausem.  If that is something you enjoy, (my son does), great, you'll love the game.  If you prefer more open world pvp with all of its imbalances (like I do), then maybe not so much.

I didn't like WAR, but I do know that this.  There are lots of folks playing WAR and having a great time.  Your results may vary.

In the end, you are risking 50 bucks to try it out.  Not really a huge risk.

There is a ton of negative misinformation spread on the mmorpg boards about WAR. And there is also is a little bit of negative information that is true, but only for specific servers or pc configurations.

Many will try and lead you to believe that all people play is scenerios. Or that there is no open rvr. Or that the servers are dead/unpopulated. Or that no one  talks in chat, or noone does pqs. What they won't tell you is, that this is only true on certain underpopulated servers, and NOT true everywhere. It can be quite the opposite on many servers, if people pick or transfer their characters to one of the more populated servers. There are servers out there that are constant action, from the time you login till the time you logoff. I personally recommend Phoenix Throne because it has a good population and balance between factions.
 

You might be led to believe that classes are severely unbalanced. Or that there is missing content, or problems at the endgame. I find these things to be outright lies personally, or severely skewed perspectives. There is definitely a 'grass is greener' mentality that is very strong in this game, people get rolled in RvR and think everyone else is more powerful. Make a character on the opposite faction on the same server and guess what - you hear the same exact thing being said about the OTHER side. There is more pve content in game than you need to hit level cap - you will still have tons of quests you never picked up after you no longer need the experience.

Endgame is about RvR even though there are end game dungeon raids. People saying there is no endgame are pretty much ignoring what is there, probably because their only understanding of what an endgame is comes from WoW, or they are choosing not to do it because it isn't their playstyle. And its true there is no mindless loot grinding at endgame like WoW, and if thats what people want from endgame they arent going to find it. But that doesn't mean there isn't an end game - it means there is a different kind of endgame that focuses on other things than WoW did. As mentioned, RvR.

Lastly, I've heard people say performance is slow and choppy or animations and interface is slow response time. My personal experience and those ive talked to in game tells me this is entirely depending on pc configuration. Some people have slowness, some dont have any problems at all. My 8800gtx runs flawlessly with the game, until I get more than 100 people on screen at once then i start to notice slowdowns but still playable. But its entirely possible certain configurations run slower and have issues. RAM seems to be the biggest factor.

What you want to be wary of more than anything else in the game, are people thinking their own private little experience is the same throughout the game, because its most definitely not. It is important to play on the right servers, without a doubt, so pick one with a healthy pop, there are several. But don't make the mistake of thinking the guy who got the unlucky draw and never made friends knows what its like on every server.

The game is almost entirely doing the same scenarios over and over.

Scenarios are fun, the game is enjoyable.

so far as PQ's are concerned, they are rarely done, mostly just solo the first two parts, let it reset, rinse and repeat for the epic reward.  Compared to the rest of the very fast paced game PQ grinding for the elite rewards seems really slow. When you can find a group for them, t2 and avove (no one will do t1 pq's anymore) they can be fun for a bit but quickly are just a grind. There is not much of a story line really....

The game is by no means bad, but for me gaming money is tight. I could not justify 15$ a month for it. My sub ends in a few days. Mythic never lied about the game or made promises they will not keep. The game is what it is. Fast paced action, lots of anonynmous players who level so quick you don't get to know anyone, a loosely built community.  The game makes everything so easy, so fast, the meat of the game is missed.

I have not been happy with a mmo since DAoC.  So take my word with that bit of caution. I have tried a lot of asian mmo, free mmo, beta tested various mmo's, played various big name mmo's, none reminded me of the wonder, awe, and sense of community as DAoC. 

I like to think of it as a pay-to-play Guild Wars, technically you never HAVE to PVE to lvl up your characters.  Quite a bit of the game is all about scenarios (think Warcraft Battlegrounds, instanced PVP).  I don't think this was the intent, but scenarios are such an efficient means of leveling that open world pvp seems to have suffered. 

Having said that, I actually like the scenarios and combat, but then again my highest character is only lvl 25 and I don't play melee characters.  I hear melee have it rougher at the higher lvls.

If you do decide to play, I'd say go with the Skull Throne server as it seems to be the most populated--by that I mean its population seems to be at medium for most of the day, the other servers tend to be at low and only get to medium during prime time gaming hours. 

Lots of ppl post about server mergers, but I dunno how they can do that--some ppl may have opposing faction characters on merged servers. 

Maybe Mythic might release some kind of free trial in the future and you can try it out then.  Amazon had the game on sale for $25 a while back, some one-day kind of deal--you may want to pay attention to similar deals in the future.

Originally posted by Eunuchmaker

Lots of ppl post about server mergers, but I dunno how they can do that--some ppl may have opposing faction characters on merged servers. 

They have been allowing free character transfers from low pop servers to med pop servers, however they dont allow two different faction characters on same server and the transfer would be denied in that case. They give you a selection of servers you can transfer to, so you wouldn't ever be stuck in a situation where you couldn't transfer to a better server. The transfer also allows you to change your name (even if it doesn't conflict with another name, as i understand it). 

Originally posted by forinboy

Originally posted by nick4545

I thank you for your honest opinion and I ask any others willing to express theirs to do so....because Im so skeptical as to weather I should get this or just got pick up something else.

 

I can honestly say that if you like PvE, EQ2 is an incredible experience.  Some servers, such as Antonia Bayle, have very high populations.  And the amount of content is unsurpassed by any current generation MMORPG.  There is so much to do, so much to see, and even more to kill that it would take the casual gamer years to see all the content it has to offer. 

 

As for PvP/RvR I dont know what to suggest at this point.  If I say "Darkfall" someone will scream.  Maybe even me.

 

 

I play 2 MMOs.  WAR and EQ2.  WAR pvp is great.  EQ2 pve is great. 
 

OP... if you take any post to heart listen to Grunties post.... he is right... no matter what game you play some are going to like it some are going to hate.

Like he said it REALLY depends on the server do a bit of server research first, in all honesty dont believe any negative posts or positive posts because everyone has a different experience..... so far i have yet to experience any of the negative stuff myself, no scenario grinds or havign troubles in PQs or anything... does thta mean those things dont happen? no it doesnt... but as stated its gonna depend on your server, pheonix throne is great , have destruction there, all my order is on ostermark, which isnt as populated but i havent had any troubles there either.

Spend the $50 get the game and give it a go its worth the one month right off the bat at least even if ya dont like it.

I played every Pay to play mmorpg there is, infact most of them with OTG.  For me Warhamemr is by far the best mmorpg out there hands down.  I can;t explain it, it just is, it works for me.  Eaasily the most polished mmorpg on or after release not to mention the ammount of content.

To the original poster, I was in beta from begining to end and really didn't get into the game as well.

I thought about getting the game but the launch without Black Guards pretty much busted that idea for me. I really beleive this game will be great in a year or so when the beta and balancing finally levels off, as of now I'm not feeling it at all.

I would wait and trial other games right now instead of Warhammer (at least until things shape up a bit and frustration dies down).

I view WAR as a failed game, due to bad game design and bad management post-launch (combined with my opinion that the game "world" is non-immersive, lifeless and soulless and the combat system is utter garbage).

The only thing keeping it afloat is people who are "determined to like it" and people who can't stand WoW (which is entirely forgiveable considering how long WoW's been around).

WAR's major paradox is the amount of people who play it thinking it makes them a hardcore elite MMO veteran when it's even more easily accessible than WoW and requires far less effort to achieve anything. Everything is handed to you on a plate, with handholding everywhere you turn.

Having said that, I strongly recommend you drop a fifty on it and try it out. It's the only real way to find out if you like it or not.

Originally posted by nick4545

I honestly don't know weather or not I should pick up Warhammer or not. I have seen so many more negative posts about Warhammer than positive posts.(maybe its just mmorpg.com trolls) I have been waiting a while to see if the game would get better but, from reading the negative posts about Warhammer that people post pretty much everyday; I honestly don't want to have my hopes high for nothing and only end up being disappointed like everyone else. So I ask the fans of Warhammer and the ones who enjoy it and the ones who might have enjoyed and just got bored quickly---should I just play something else like LOTRO (which was a second option I had in mind) or go ahead and get Warhammer?

Well, just because someone else doesn't like a game doesn't mean that you won't.

On the other hand I would advice you to wait until they fixes a free trial, that must happen sooner or later, and if you like it or not, it will be a better game in a while anyways, all MMOs get better a while after launch when everything is sorted out.

While you wait for that, try some other games with free trials (LOTRO and EQ2 are good ones, TCoS is releasing soon and have a free noob zone and Runes of magic is also releasing soon and it is totaly free).

A trial usually shows if you think a game is fun enough to invest in. Sometimes you still loses intrest after a month but it is worth the money for the box anyways then. Sometimes a game doesn't work for you at all, and it is expensive to find that out 3 times a month

Good luck.

Originally posted by borngamer

I view WAR as a failed game, due to bad game design and bad management post-launch (combined with my opinion that the game "world" is non-immersive, lifeless and soulless and the combat system is utter garbage).

The only thing keeping it afloat is people who are "determined to like it" and people who can't stand WoW (which is entirely forgiveable considering how long WoW's been around).

WAR's major paradox is the amount of people who play it thinking it makes them a hardcore elite MMO veteran when it's even more easily accessible than WoW and requires far less effort to achieve anything. Everything is handed to you on a plate, with handholding everywhere you turn.

Having said that, I strongly recommend you drop a fifty on it and try it out. It's the only real way to find out if you like it or not.

The above post is an example of complete and utter garbage that proliferates on this site.

There is nothing true in it. Lets pick a few: "bad post-launch management" - completely ridiculous. No other mmo i know had this fast bug fixes, player concerns addressed and 2 server events in as many months from release. "handholding at every turn" - massive fail here.. damn endgame requires the whole faction on a server to take initiative and coordinate in instanced PvP, open world PvP and raid PvE simultaneously in order to be able to gain access to the top content.

Go to www.metacritics.com and read WAR reviews there. While profesional reviews are notoriously unreliable this site lists all of them - from the most positive to the most negative. In addition these pro reviews have at least a token responsibility for some bare minimum of truthfulness (they might attempt to twist the truth but they can't outright lie) which is not required for drive-by trolling which seems to be the norm here.

@markoraos:

I should have been clearer about what I meant regarding bad management post-launch. I was mainly referring to the fact that EA/Mythic were so sure they had a big hit on their hands that they opened far too many servers instead of being sensible and gradually ramping up the server field.

And as for the game being challenging, this is entirely a matter of opinion. I found it astoundingly easy with very little effort required to achieve what little the game had to offer, and with an embarrassing amount of hand-holding, and you find it extremely challenging. I hope you're mature enough to accept that people can form different opinions from similar experiences.

For all I know, the OP may play the game and find it's the most exciting experience he's ever had in a video game, which is why I recommended he buy it and find out. For me personally, it was an insult to the genre, and to gamers in general.

OP;

My GF and I are really enjoying WAR.  We were on a low pop server and transferred with our guild to a medium server.  My server is Vortex.  Non prime time there are about 300 destruction people on.  Prime time is just under 1000 destruction.  The number of destruction players to order players is as follows:

T1 = 1.4, T2 = 1.4, T3 = 1.3, T4 = 1.1

Scenarios take about 5-10 minutes to pop.  I typically get between 1 and 2 groups together for any chapter PQ during prime time.  Open RVR happens about once or twice a night.  I'm a bit proactive in my approach though.  I make an Open RVR group, I make PQ and Scenario groups.  If nothing is happening in a tier, I fly to another tier for a bit.

I enjoy WAR more than I have any other game when it comes to PvP.  Its PVE is decent, but not like EQ2.  They have made good changes so far.  They are working well on the game.

People don't get off the game and run to the forums to post positively about the game.  They go to forums to gripe or get help.  There are people who enjoy playing the game. 

If you are on the fence, just stay there.  Eventually they will release a preview version or something along those lines.  The game will just keep getting better while you wait.

Originally posted by borngamer

@markoraos:

I should have been clearer about what I meant regarding bad management post-launch. I was mainly referring to the fact that EA/Mythic were so sure they had a big hit on their hands that they opened far too many servers instead of being sensible and gradually ramping up the server field.

Imo the problem starded when WAR turned out to require less player time than what is the norm in mmos and that is why this whole problem with too many servers begun. WAR has/had (who knows now) very good server populations.... for playtime standards set by WoW. However if people spent 1/2 time playing per day then each server would appear to hold 1/2 players than it actually had.  This would make servers underpopulated at any given point in time - leading to lessened player experience. However I agree that this problem is compounded by unwilingness of Mythic and especially GOA to react to this. In EU we have a vicious circle at work with people logging in to check if someone is online, seeing nobody and logging out. It is very similar to what happened with scenarios and open RvR actually...

However apart from that Mythic's post-launch management hasn't been anything but stellar so it is a bit unfair to dump it all in a trash can by a flat statement that you used.

And as for the game being challenging, this is entirely a matter of opinion. I found it astoundingly easy with very little effort required to achieve what little the game had to offer, and with an embarrassing amount of hand-holding, and you find it extremely challenging. I hope you're mature enough to accept that people can form different opinions from similar experiences.

Then you obviously haven't seen everything the game has to offer. WAR is extremely versatile in that regard. Ofc if you just follow the yellow brick road and queue for scenarios you'll have an easy ride. There is some pretty rough stuff around but it is not jumping at you. As I mentioned - even the common garden variety PQs can be "easymode" if you zerg them with a wb for minimal rewards or "hardcore" if you 3-man them.

As for hand-holding... If you want to follow the ride then just turn your brain off and follow the road. On the other hand if you want real action you have to be a bit more adventurous and show initiative. From your statements I gather you never bothered to turn on your brain and actually go off the beaten track. I think you saw what you wanted to see - if you expected a linear easymode wow clone then that's what you got - WAR accomodates that playstlyle quite easily as well. Maybe that is the problem - it is too accomodating. If you  start playing it with  a preconception chances are you'll get it confirmed. I had positive expectations and got them confirmed as well.

For all I know, the OP may play the game and find it's the most exciting experience he's ever had in a video game, which is why I recommended he buy it and find out. For me personally, it was an insult to the genre, and to gamers in general.

I have quite the opposite opinion. It is a huge step in the right direction for the future of the genre. There are some flaws that annoy me, that's certain, but core design is extremely sound and well thought out. In WAR it feels that the devs actually THOUGHT about the game as a MMO rather than a single player game with some other people thrown in. Public Quests, for example, are a stroke of pure genius - one content type that can accomodate playstyles from solo farmers to leet groups and zerging warbands... meaningfully. When you experience PQs as they are meant to be played you realize how terribly stagnant MMO genre has been at the conceptual level for the past 5 years.

I'm not saying that all of their ideas worked out 100% or that all the existing mmo problems and atavisms were addressed but what they did in this game at least shows that they weren't content with rehashing the same old EQ crap that is the same old single-player crap rehashed twice. And no, throwing in console-style combat or driveable vehicles does not count as novel or imaginative in my book - it's been done already in other genres. What counts are the changes and innovations that are specific to the MMO genre and WAR has them. My opinion is that WAR is the first MMO that really attempts to break from the EQ (themeride) vs UO (sandbox) mold. It is the third MMO type which took RvR ideas from DAoC and applied them to the whole game world rather than just the endgame. Aion could turn out to be another such game but WAR was there first. We'll see, as always.

See? Reasonable (i hope) reply to a reasonable post. It's not that hard and there is no need to be rude after all. When you argument your opinions then we can have a nice gentlemanly conversation, regardless of our differneces in opinion or taste. It is the flat, unsubstantiated statements that make me blow my top.